Gifts and Curses

I got hooked on the show Heroes in the early part of the year. NBC's lineup of Heroes and Studio 60 was perfect for my tastes and I always looked forward to Monday nights. Heroes is a show about ordinary people discovering extraordinary abilities. One of the characters, Claire, is a typical high school student. She's a cheerleader and one of the popular crowd. One day she discovers that she can't get hurt. It's kind like Wolverine's power on X-Men. If she breaks a bone, gets a huge gash, or is sliced open, she automatically heals. And this sets her apart and makes her feel alone, like an outsider. While this power saves her and others on many occasions, she often wishes she didn't have this power. In last night's episode, she is talking to an unnamed man who has the power to erase memories and per orders, had erased the memory of Claire's trusted friend, the only one she shared her secret with. However, he went against orders and left Claire's memory intact. Here's how the dialogue went:

Claire: I don't want to be alone.
Man: You are not alone Claire and I cannot give your friend back his memories. That's not how my gift works.
Claire: Your gift, is that what you call it?
Man: What do you call it?
Claire: My own, private freak show.
Man: What you can do, what I can do, that is God. Respect that calling.

This week we are talking about Jeremiah in our sermon series about the prophets. Jeremiah did not have it easy. He was mocked, ridiculed, and beaten and nobody listened to him, no matter how hard he tried. Yet, he had this amazing call from God to be a prophet, to be one who spoke the Word of the Lord to the people. This call was a gift and yet it brought so much pain to his life.

Our own calls might not be as direct as Jeremiah's and our gifts may not be as pronounced as Claire's. However, we also have this gift, this call. And unfortunately, it's not always easy. I find myself relating to this story line now as I look toward my future. Chances are, my ministry is going to bring me somewhere far from the familiar. I do not get to pick what part of the nation I will end up in for my first call. Where I get to do my first three years of ministry is essentially decided by a lottery system.

And yet, this is who I am. The gifts I have been given can best be used in this call, this call to ministry. And there's no way around it. These gifts are from God and I have to respect that call. And I suspect I'm not the only one who feels this way. These gifts that may set us apart, make us different, that may even isolate us do not feel like gifts but instead like curses. But they are gifts and they were given to us out of God's love for us and out of God's love for the world. And it through these gifts that we are able to live out God's call to be leaders, teachers, prophets, ministers, mentors, friends, siblings, counselors, children, parents, and whatever.

And God does make a promise to Jeremiah at the very beginning of the ministry. He tells Jeremiah, "Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you." And I believe that promise still stands today.